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The United States has blamed Hamas for the failure of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on Friday, and accused it of launching a “barbaric” attack to apprehend an Israeli soldier.
“This is an outrageous action and we look to the rest of the world to join us in condemning it”, Tony Blinken, House Deputy National Security Adviser, said in an interview with MSNBC television.
After Israel ended its three-day truce with Hamas only a few hours it had begun, The White House accused Hamas of ambushing Israeli soldiers and expressed fears that an Israeli soldier was captured. Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire after launching shelling in southern Gaza and killed several dozens of people.
“The Israelis of course are reporting this morning that that ceasefire was broken.Apparently, Hamas individuals used the cover of a humanitarian ceasefire to attack Israeli soldiers and even to take one hostage. That would be a rather barbaric violation of the ceasefire”, Josh Earnest, spokesman for the White House told CNN.
Gaza had a brief respite after John Kerry, US Secretary of State, announced a “humanitarian truce”, the longest truce deal announced since July 8th. The ceasefire, which started at 0500 GMT, was supposed to last for three days.
Earnest added that Kerry, who was in India at the time, had called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to talk about restoring calm, and that he would consult the United Nations and “regional partners”.
“But again, this is a blatant, barbaric violation of a ceasefire agreement.For someone to use a humanitarian ceasefire agreement that is clearly in the humanitarian interests of innocent civilians on both sides in order to carry out an attack is a terrible thing.It is worthy of the strongest condemnation from the United States, and it certainly deserves the strong condemnation of the international community”, he said.
